Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Entryism Continues at Yahoo! as More Microsoft Managers Occupy the Shaken Ship

Entryism



Summary: More staff migrations are reported to have resulted in managers from Microsoft taking charge inside Yahoo! and Nokia is revisited as entryism candidate in its earlier phases

ENTRYISM becomes a strong tool for Microsoft to change the landscape of IT, especially now that so many Microsoft executives are leaving. One reader of ours, gnufreex, has asked for an article explaining what entryism is about and how it works. The Wikipedia article is broad and it focuses on entryism in the context of politics (Slated brought this analogy to wider public attention). Today we'll give a quick update on Microsoft entryism and there is a lot more in our IRC channels (for those who are patient enough to open the logs and read them all).



"After talking [to] few ex and present Microsofties," explained gnufreex, "I got to conclusion that those people are religious followers and they don't know other company than Microsoft. That is their good. Wherever they go, they will still be working for Microsoft. There are two types of ex-Microsofties: One will stay faithful to the company and work for Microsoft cause when they move to another company. Other group will be professional and work for new company (not for Microsoft) but they will shape new company after proprietary principles they have been thought at Microsoft. So *any* company that contain ex-Microsofties in management, will be hostile to free software. They are like a plague. [...] There have been some rare exceptions. Some ex-Microsofties are completely sick of the ideas of MS. There have been guys that worked for Microsoft for 6 months and quit due to having to much common sense to accept their crap. One example, creator of CoyotOS and BitC. Shapiro. He have been hired away from CoyotOS when Hurd guys wanted to port Hurd servers to CoyotOS."

“Wherever they go, they will still be working for Microsoft.”
      --gnufreex
As a timely example, we have documented quite thoroughly how Yahoo! got hijacked by Microsoft from the inside. That's an excellent example of entryism, involving no less than several dozens of Microsoft managers entering a company that once rejected Microsoft and aggressively defended itself from Microsoft. Nowadays, after many Microsoft seniors managed to occupy key positions at Yahoo!, hostility towards Google at Yahoo! is greater and it is working out pretty well for Microsoft. "Microsoft Joins Yahoo In Criticizing Google Instant," says this new headline and it's not the first time we see such things. Yahoo dives into anti-Google agenda like Microsoft's marionette and Yahoo! may have patents too -- ones that it can use to attack Google shall the former Microsoft managers who occupy Yahoo's corpus callosum choose to do so (this possibility was covered before on several occasions).

As a reminder, Yahoo! and Google were almost allies before AstroTurfing (LawMedia) from Microsoft. Watch what Google's CEO has to say about the antitrust claims which came through Microsoft allies recently:

Google boss Eric Schmidt has said that antitrust investigations targeting the company in the EU and Texas are "stimulated" by interested competitors and that — contrary to one of the complaints filed in the EU — the company's "Universal Search" setup does not unfairly drive traffic to Google services at the expense of rivals.


The article addresses those accusations from Texas -- accusations which Schmidt now attributes to competitors rather than just Microsoft as Google previously alleged [1, 2, 3] (those competitors are Microsoft partners for the most part).

Going back to Yahoo!, the company suffered a major exodus recently (Microsoft did too) and Yahoo! kept the press out of it. People who are not so muchly needed in Microsoft as much as they are needed for capturing a rival without acquiring it are entering Yahoo! again. More entryism in Yahoo? The Register says "Bing! man! drops! Microsoft! for! Yahoo! job!"

Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet reported Bradford’s departure, but Yahoo! hasn’t confirmed his job title yet. It’s not clear when he’ll be leaving Microsoft either.

[...]

Windows Live exec Blake Irving, Microsoft global ad sales man Bill Shaughnessy and John Metheny of Kin fame have all rocked up at Yahoo!’s Sunnyvale offices of late.


Here is what we wrote about Microsoft managers inside Yahoo! allegedly planning to bring more former colleagues from Microsoft as the company continues to sink [1, 2].

Yahoo! boss Carol Bartz confirmed that the company’s US head and two other execs were leaving the web outfit yesterday.

Hilary Schneider’s departure along with the resignations of media veep Jimmy Pitaro and audience wonk David Ko were announced by Bartz to all Yahoo!


This whole culture of entryism worries us greatly because the quicker Microsoft falls, the more Microsoft residue (of managers, not mere engineers) will spread to other companies.

"Examples of companies MS has bought a small share of (less than the 5% to report) but use to influence the board of said companies, is Netflix, Best Buy. Blockbuster had Carl Icahn the corporate raider to the same thing with that he did to Yahoo, most likely on M$ behalf," Chips B. Malroy alleged. "Once that influence has worked and they get their people in, then MS can sell the stock," he added.

The other day we wrote about what was happening in Nokia following the appointment of a Microsoft president (now Nokia's CEO). Not only did its key "Linux guy" (VP of Nokia's MeeGo unit) resign but he also allegedly said "Me go now!" Yes, Ari Jaaksi resigned his position and he has not exactly given explanations to the press (it is a low-key departure). He only got "quoted as saying by Ilta-Sanomat that his departure was not linked to the naming of Stephen Elop as Nokia's new managing director last month," said one site. MeeGo is better than Android is many ways and Nokia's lack of commitment will also harm Intel's Linux plans.

"A stacked panel, on the other hand, is like a stacked deck: it is packed with people who, on the face of things, should be neutral, but who are in fact strong supporters of our technology."

--Microsoft, internal document [PDF]



Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Following the Line of Cocaine All the Way to the Top
Even a million denials and spin-doctoring won't distract from the core issue
Thankfully We've Made Copies of More Interesting Data From statCounter
If statCounter (the Web site or the 'webapp') vanished overnight, we'd still have something left of it
More Silent Layoffs at IBM/Red Hat
when the media counts such layoffs or presents tallies the numbers are very incomplete
 
19 Years, No Censorship
No factual information is ever going to be removed, more so if it is in the public interest
We Are Not a Conventional Site, That's Why They Hate (or Love) Us
Throughout the week this week we'll be focusing on the EPO
The Cocaine Patent Office - Part I: António Campinos Brought Corruption and Nepotism to the EPO, Then Came the Cocaine
High-level manager at the European Patent Office (EPO) caught in public with cocaine, the Office has some answering to do
Purchasing/Possessing Computers Isn't the Same as Controlling Computers
Let's strive to put computers back under the control of their users, no matter who purchased these (usually the users)
Gemini Links 27/10/2025: Alhena 5.4.3 and Fixing Bash
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 26, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 26, 2025
Links 26/10/2025: Microsoft Spies on Gamers, Open Transport Community Conference
Links for the day
Links 26/10/2025: LLM Slop / Plagiarism Programs Continue to Disappoint, CISA Layoffs Threaten Systems
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/10/2025: Gemsync and Joining the Small Web
Links for the day
India.com a Click-baiting, SEO-Spamming, Slopfarming Heap
They do this almost every day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 25, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 25, 2025
Without XBox Consoles, XBox is No More, It's Just a Brand (More Rumours of Microsoft Ending XBox, Then Laying Off Lots of Staff)
All signs indicate that Microsoft wants to "exit" the XBox business (not brand), but it does not want to publicly admit this as it would alarm staff and shareholders
Gemini Links 25/10/2025: Portugal, Midnightpub, and "Tech Right Admins"
Links for the day
Almost 2026 Already (When We Turn Twenty)
In just over a year the site will turn 20
When "Sponsored Feature" in The Register MS Means Ponzi Scheme Promotion From the Communist Party of China (CPC)
the promotion of a financial scam
Week of EPO Leaks: Workers of the EPO Are Getting a Pay Cut While Prices Rise Fast
More to come in the next few days
Microsoft is Finally Giving Up on XBox, The Chief Says the Grapes Are Sour Anyway
Microsoft loses hundreds of dollars on each XBox that it sells
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Various Slopfarms Propped up by Google News
Why can't Google News do better than this?
Links 25/10/2025: Two New Smokescreens for Scam Altman and ‘TikTok USA’ Remains in Limbo
Links for the day
Bad faith: can't change Debian Social Contract (DSC) without unanimous consent of every joint author
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Confirmed: Very Close Friend of Bill Gates and Microsoft's Biggest Patent Troll Nathan Myhrvold Flew the Lolita Express (a Gateway to Pedophilia), According to Bill Gates-Sponsored Seattle Times
There is no speculation or any "conspiracy theories" here;' those are verified facts
Gemini Links 25/10/2025: "The Highest Leader of The Global Civil Society Community", SSL Certificates Causing Bitrot
Links for the day
Links 25/10/2025: Target Layoffs and "Shutdown Sparks 85% Increase in US Government Cyberattacks"
Links for the day
"Big Data" Was a Big Lie
Remember "Big Data"? Remember "Data Scientists"...?
statCounter Has Been Broken for a Long Time
Considering the huge proportion of Web requests that come from LLM bots (more so this past year or two), statCounter may struggle to justify the operating costs
Techrights Anniversary Party on November 7th
Let us know if you need any accommodation-related arrangements
Trends That Must Alarm Microsoft and Mozilla
Expect Firefox to no longer be supported by various sites in the US
Why Microsoft Became the Layoffs Leader
The corporate media is projecting or signalling its own dishonesty when it tells us that Microsoft is a very "valuable" company while the data shows Microsoft is also a "market leader" in layoffs
Speaking for Ourselves and Letting the Facts Speak for Themselves
we've already published over 50,000 pages
For Second Time in a Day The Register MS Takes Money From Private Companies to Sell a Ponzi Scheme
Do not have empathy for those who have zero empathy towards you
IBM is Misleading IBM Shareholders
IBM is still all about vapourware and buzzwords
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 24, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, October 24, 2025